California judge Lucy Koh has ruled in favor of a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1 requested by Apple, which will result in a halt of sales in the U.S. once Apple posts a $2.6 billion bond to cover potential damages Samsung would suffer. "Although Samsung has a right to compete, it does not have a right to compete unfairly, by flooding the market with infringing products," Judge Koh said. The official ruling goes on to say:

This Court is persuaded by Judge O'Malley's concurrence that the public interest favors an injunction here 'because the record at this stage shows that the D'889 Patent is likely valid and infringed, and there are no other relevant concerns, the public interest is best served by granting a preliminary injunction.

Of course, Samsung was quick to file for an appeal against the preliminary injunction, which is a very real possibility considering Apple's original request for an injunction in December wasn't granted. This injunction request made it through as Apple had since found more prior art and offered arguments relating to an iPad 2 prototype Apple had presented to the patent office. Apple made pretty good progress against the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany last fall, which ultimately resulted in Samsung releasing a slightly modified variant - an eventuality that seems likely in the U.S.. Even before the ruling was passed, Koh had scheduled another hearing for Friday, so this is far from a final blow against Samsung (though it is a big one). A proper trial is set to begin on July 30.

I have a hard time imagining that Apple will get this ruling to stick considering it's based on the infringement of a single design patent. Do you guys think Samsung is riding on the coattails of Apple's hard work in design, or are there only so many different ways you can make a tablet look? Do you know anyone who might conceivably mix up a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 with an iPad?

Reader comments

I don't think that the design of the device itself mimics the iPad any more than is strictly necessary due to the fact that tablets are all going to look kind of similar. The packaging and accessories (the charger, cable, box, etc.) are REALLY similar to Apple's. I certainly don't think that that should be enough to warrant a sales injunction on a $600 device, but Samsung needs to rectify this in future models. Their Galaxy family of products is fantastic and should absolutely be able to stand on its own merits without biting design cues on relatively unimportant aspects of the package.

How is this ridiculous?? If I make a great product that sells million of unites and some other company rips it off, I will be pissed off too! No one is stealing my quadruple Oreo cookie with a chocolate chip cookie in the middle idea.

How is this big news -- it's last year's tablet, and sales were abysmal even when it was new.
Samsung should have gotten the message by now that copying design doesn't fly with the customers -- not because of patents, but because no one wanted to buy the iPad look-alikes.

It does not matter if it is an old tablet or not. I think the point is, you did something wrong and you pay the consequences. I think it is also a wake up call saying don't try this again or we will come after you again. The question is whether it is a lesson learned. Samsung will try to win this so they can continue to do what they have been doing. Someone needs to put a stop to it, and these patent wars will continue to go on and on and on. I would much rather like to see companies invest this money on new technologies but I suppose you also have to stand your grounds.

So then Samsung makes another tablet, sells it for a year and then it gets banned. What good does that do? NOTHING. There isn't a big market for 1 year old tablets. They aren't going to make the bulk of their $$ >1 year after it has been released. Sounds like a waste of time and money.

It's all about legal precedent. If Apple wins the case, they can leverage that win against other infringing products. Including whatever iPad clones Samsung and Google are planing to sell in the future.

Honestly Microsoft should sue Apple for infringing on the tablet concept since THEY were first with tablets.
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 looks nothing like an iPad and those who want an iPad are NOT going to buy an Android tablet instead based on looks they are buying it for other reasons.
Having owned the first iPad, a Moto Xoom and will be picking up in the new iPad (3) my technology choice was based on the OS, function and not how it looked.
Apple needs to get paste the lawsuit cycle based on a rectangle.

This is just sad. The TRUTH is there has only ever been one major brand tablet that ever even remotely resembled an iPad, the TouchPad. Of course, despite that design being know for six months prior to its launch, Apple never even attempted to move to bar it from the market.
The issue here is that Apple is afraid of Samsung offering differing options that have market potential, so they are using what ever trick they can to try to prevent potential competition.

They entire patent system is total BS, especially when it comes to software patents.
Maybe Apple should stop spending so much on their legal team and start innovating again...
Regardless of who wins, the customers still lose.

What most people don't realize is that if you patent something, it's legally required that you defend it to the fullest extent. If not, you give up all rights and iterations to that patent. If one person (company) infringes on your patent and you allow it, then others are free to follow suit.
Apple is just doing what they are legally obliged to do.

Yet another example of why I have grown fed up with Apple and will do what I can to avoid giving them any more of my money. I've already sold my iPhone and if Windows 8 is a stellar product, I will ditch my MacBook Pro as well.